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I am very new to this site and I really need your help. I recently accpted an offer at Moving to NYC: need to live between NewYork-Presbyterian/ Columbia University Medical Center and my wife works in Brooklyn.
We have a 3 year old and a 5 year old.
Where should we live? How is Inwood? i heard the good areas are west of broadway? Are there good areas in Washington heights? How are the schools there? I am on a relatively tight budget: max 3K per month. Can I find a 2BR in upper West side for that amount? What about Long Island City or Astoria or flushing.
Other threads mentioned Riverdale but its too far a commute for the wife. Any feedback would be great
The main issue you will face in Inwood/Washington Heights will be the quality of the schools in the immediate area. Parts of these neighborhoods, west of Broadway, are very well kept, with good housing options. However, services may be lacking in the form of variety of shops and services, when compared to other areas of Manhattan. Queens might offer better options, certainly in the size/quality of housing when compared with more expensive areas of Manhattan.
Depending upon the area in Queens, you would have options to get to Manhattan and to Columbia. District 26 has the highest rated zoned schools in the city, on a district level, not individual school, and your budget would work in this area. However, this is Northeastern Queens, from Bayside (part of Bayside is District 26, others are District 25) to the Nassau County border. If you are open to taking the LIRR, you could go to Penn Station, and then take the subway uptown to Columbia. Brooklyn could still be a problematic commute from this location, however, unless your wife were to drive to work.
Forest Hills also has good schools, and you could take the subway to Manhattan, E to the A would get you to Columbia in about an hour. Unfortunately, your wife might have the same length of commute by public transportation to Brooklyn. Driving would also make it easier, but Forest Hills can have parking problems, and if you're not planning on having a car, that wouldn't work for your situation, either.
Brooklyn might not be too bad a consideration for your situation. because you could still be at Columbia in about an hour from an area like Park Slope, but your wife would have a shorter commute to work. District 15 in Brooklyn also has some good schools, though as with other sought-afer locales, overcrowding can mean reassignment, which can happen even in areas like the UWS, UES, TriBeCa, etc. Riverdale would offer you a shorter commute, though your wife would have a very long commute to Brooklyn, depending upon the part of Brooklyn. If she works not far from Lower Manhattan, and has a standard rush hour commute, she could take the BxM18 express bus to Lower Manhattan and then the subway to Brooklyn. It would take a little over an hour to get to Lower Manhattan, but it's on a coach bus, that's usually well regulated in terms of climate control, but the commute could become tiresome. The other Riverdale option would be MNRR Hudson Line to Grand Central Terminal, and then transition to the 4 or 5 to Brooklyn. The 4/5 trains, however, can be very crowded at rush hour, and while the Riverdale to Midtown portion of the commute would be under half an hour, it could take the same to get to Brooklyn with minimal delays on the crowded 4/5 trains.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
There is one strong K-8 school in Washington Heghts, which is also in a fine neighborhood. This area is called Hudson Heights, which is between 181st and the Cloisters, north to south, and Broadway and the Hudson, east to west. The school is PS 187, and it consistently gets good reviews, has strong scores, and I know parents who have sent their kids there and were happy. Check the DOE website for exact zoning by address, but most of this neighborhood sends its kids there. A two bedroom in this neighborhood will be within your budget. Its calm, clean, middle-class and has a sprinkling of amenities. It is walkable to Columbia Presbyterian (or a ten minute bus ride) and the A train will shoot your honey off to Brooklyn, probably 45 minutes to an hour to downtown.
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